Organizational Control in the High School Workplace: A Theoretical Argument

Abstract

In this article, a new approach is taken to the question of the control of teachers' work. This approach is contrasted with Weberian, loose coupling, and instructional approaches. Using the high school as a grounding case, an argument is made that school workplaces may provide a variety of controls of teachers' work, embedded in the social organization of the school. Trends toward one or another control mechanism are said to depend on variation in school size, the power of students and parents relative to teachers, the division of instructional labor, and informal social ties among teachers.